Buford Tannen
| gender=Male| age1=28 (approx)| age2=98 (approx, possibly deceased)| hair=Black| eyes=Brown| film=Thomas F. Wilson| tv=Thomas F. Wilson| }} Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen was a town outlaw in Hill Valley, California, in the year 1885. He was the great-grandfather of Biff Tannen.Given in documentary at the Biff Tannen Museum in Back to the Future Part II Buford had a very short temper and a tendency to drool, thus earning him the nickname of "Mad Dog", a name he hated. Buford did not seem to have any fixed address, and he and his gang of threeIdentified in the script as Stubble, Ceegar and Buck rode around the Hill Valley area, robbing, shooting and bullying the local people. For some reason, he took a dislike to Seamus McFly, warning the Irish farmer not to enter the Palace Saloon ever again. Seamus did not take much notice of Buford, though, and did not fight with him. Little is known about Buford's family life, other than he will eventually have a son who will marry Gertrude and produce Biff's father. Buford also had problems counting (he did not know that "7" came after "6") and shared his great grandson's trouble with mixed metaphors (at one point he said "I'll hunt you and shoot you down like a duck" instead of "dog.") Biography Buford shot 12 men, not including Indians or Chinamen, before 1884; records were stopped after Buford shot dead a newspaper editor who printed an unfavorable story about him in that year. At some point between January 1 and September 1, 1885, Buford asked Dr Emmett "Doc" Brown, who had set up a blacksmithing business while trapped in 1885, to shoe his horses; Buford did not pay for this job. Later the shoe came off and Buford shot the horse. Buford arrived in Hill Valley in the morning of September 3, 1885 - he was looking for Doc, as due to the horseshoe incident he reckoned that Doc owed him $80 ($75 for the horse that he shot, the other $5 for a bottle of "Red Eye" whiskey he had busted in the accident). He threatened Doc, who said that since Buford never paid him for the job that made them even. Buford told Doc to watch his back in the future. Two days later on the night of September 5, 1885 at the Hill Valley Festival (celebrating 20 years of cityhood and the arrival of the new clock) Buford attempted to rape Doc's love interest, Clara Clayton, whom he had met while picking up from the train station. Doc tried to intervene, but Buford has his lackeys hold Doc in position to shoot him in the back. This caused Doc to die two days later on Monday. Altered history Luckily, Marty McFly in 1955 found the gravestone and headed back to 1885 in the DeLorean time machine to save Doc. After he accidentally called Buford "Mad Dog", Buford nearly hanged him from the courthouse - fortunately for Marty, Doc was able to save him. Buford now regarded "Clint Eastwood" (the name Marty was using in 1885) as his enemy. At the festival two days later, Doc escaped being shot in the back by Buford, as he now knew about it from Marty. Marty saved Doc from being shot a second time by throwing a Frisbee at the gun, causing Buford to miss. Buford challenged "Clint" to a shootout Monday morning, causing Marty to agree by calling him "yellow", Marty's one weakness (although usually he was called a "chicken"). The next morning, Sunday, September 6, 1885, Buford and his gang robbed the Pine City Stage before spending the night by the lake. It is possible that this was their "lair" in the Hill Valley area. On Monday, September 7, 1885, they headed into town to meet "Clint" outside the Palace Saloon at 8am. Marty had realized that it did not matter what Buford thought of him, and he and Doc tried escaping. Unfortunately Buford spotted them and kidnapped Doc, causing Marty to have to face Buford after all. Luckily, he used a stove as a bulletproof vest (as foreshadowed in 1985A while Biff is watching A Fistful of Dollars in his hot tub)- and then fought Buford by punching him and hitting him with the stove. This knocked Buford out, causing him to fall into a cartload of manure, beginning a family tradition of sorts that his great-grandson would continue by repeatedly crashing his car into manure trucks. Buford was then arrested for robbing the Pine City Stage and led away. It is implied by Marshal James Strickland that he would be hanged for his crimes. Behind the scenes *Buford's role in the trilogy is foreshadowed twice in the previous film. While in 2015 and meeting Buford's 3rd-great-grandson Griff - Marty plays the video game Wild Gunman. The main character of this game is named Mad Dog. When Marty returns to the 1985 that Biff Tannen has altered by way of time travel and a sports almanac, he finds that Biff now has a museum dedicated to his life. A documentary makes mention of Buford Tannen. Buford's picture is also seen briefly and appears noticeably different than he does in the third film, sporting a large beard, as producers had not yet decided what Buford would look like in the third film. The simplest explanation is that Buford had shaved off his beard sometime prior to the events of the third film (or grew it sometime after). *Wilson has said his performance as Buford was inspired by Lee Marvin's character in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. *The animated series reveals him to have a brother, Thaddeus Tannen, and a sister, in 1875, although this is not taken as canon by many fans. *The actions of Marty and Doc apparently did not change the history of the Tannen family, as Biff Tannen had the same personality and relation to the McFly family as he did. This has led some fans to believe that Buford is not actually a direct ancestor of Biff, but a relative with the same last name, or possibly that Buford's son was already born before the events in ''Back to the Future Part III took place. The latter is more likely, as a documentarian in Back to the Future Part II confirms that Buford is in fact Biff's great grandfather. It is not unreasonable to assume his son was already born at this time, this would have made the son at least 70 in 1955 and therefore Gertrude being approximately the same age. *In the original version of Back to the Future Part III, Buford also shot Marshal Strickland while Strickland's son was present. This would have been what Tannen was arrested for at the end (and why Buford is arrested by Strickland's deputy not Strickland himself). This scene was cut, though, for not being suitable for a Back to the Future movie. ''Back to the Future: The Animated Series Doc picks up Clara from 1885 to take her back to 1991, and Buford is bothering her. She kicks him and pulls his hat over his head before getting in the DeLorean and heading home. It is also possible that "Wild Bill" Tannen could have been a cousin to Buford. There was also a Beauregard Tannen in 1864, who could have been the father of Buford. Appearances *Back to the Future Part II'' *''Back to the Future Part III'' *''Back to the Future Part III novelization'' References and notes Tannen, Buford Tannen, Buford